


it goes on

by roseweasley394



Series: Moments Like These [27]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banter, Dialogue Heavy, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Growing Up, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Plans For The Future, Protective Ron Weasley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26591971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseweasley394/pseuds/roseweasley394
Summary: “I know that my mum means well,” Rose started as she sat back now next to him. “But I just wish she’d really listen to me. She can just be so stubborn sometimes!”“Frustrating, isn’t it?” Scorpius smirked, cringing as she swatted his arm rather roughly.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: Moments Like These [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780003
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	it goes on

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This one is very dialogue-heavy, so here's your warning! A nice bit of angst with a heavy amount of fluff at the end. Enjoy!!!

* * *

It was July, the summer before Scorpius’s seventh year was to begin, and he was staying the week with his girlfriend, Rose Weasley. It was a blistering Thursday afternoon and they had chosen to join her cousins at the Burrow for a day of quidditch, chess, and plenty of Molly Weasley’s food.

The heat was sweltering and the cooling charms placed around the misshapen house did little to soften the harsh blow that the cloudless sky was bestowing upon them. The Potters were on holiday, Lucy was listening to a quidditch match on the wireless with Fred, and everyone else was busy watching Hugo and Louis have it out in a game of chess. This left Scorpius and Rose to their own devices. Surely no one would notice if they slipped away to the room Rose was occupying with several of her other cousins.

One at a time, they made their way up the winding, creaky stairs of the Burrow to slip unnoticed into the depths of Rose’s shared room. No sooner had Scorpius quietly closed the door than Rose was on him, arms winding around his neck as she attached her mouth hungrily to his. Threading her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, she tugged lightly causing him to groan. Suddenly, it wasn’t enough anymore to just be standing there. He wanted to feel the pressure of her body against his own.

Lips firmly attached to the delicate column of her throat, he walked them backward until her thighs hit the camp bed nearest the window. Between giggles and open-mouthed kisses, they scrambled up the cot’s mattress, her thighs encasing either side of his hips. Red hair hanging around them like a curtain, he ran his hands up her sides like wildfire, unable to touch enough of her fast enough.

Fumbling with the hook of her bra, he was quickly distracted as she began to suck greedily at the base of his throat; her name slipping through his lips in a voice much huskier than normal. She was doing such glorious things with her tongue that he hardly noticed a loud pecking noise coming from the window on the far side of the room. Unfortunately, Rose had. He groaned as she rolled off of him, moving to let their feathered interruption into the small room.

“What is it?” He asked breathlessly, still relishing in the lost feel of her hips against his.

“It’s my parent's owl,” she said, clearly as confused as he.

“How about opening it later,” he suggested, rolling over to grab her arm lightly. “We were attending to business that feels rather unfinished.”

She rolled her eyes at his smirk but shrugged out of his grip. “If mum’s sending an owl, that means it must be important or else she’d wait until we’re home tonight.”

He groaned at her words, feeling the haze of lust surrounding them dissipate. Eyeing her warily, he watched as she unrolled the piece of parchment, eyes darting over the paper several times before letting it fall into her lap unceremoniously. To his consternation, her wide blue eyes were shimmering with tears.

“What happened, is your mum okay?” He asked hurriedly, moving to the end of the bed where he grasped her hand in his.

“Oh she’s perfectly fine,” she said sullenly. “It’s me that’s not. Apparently, she’s arranged for me to shadow someone in the Department of International Magical Cooperation starting next week.”

Scorpius’s nose wrinkled in confusion. “Why is that a bad thing?” This was clearly the wrong thing to say for she ripped her hand away from his as if she had been burned.

“Because I don’t want to work for the bloody Ministry!” She cried, eyes flashing madly. “I would suffocate there, Scorpius, you know that and she does too!”

“Maybe she thinks it’ll be a good experience,” he suggested weakly.

“I’m sure it would be,” she said with a bitter laugh. “Good experience for me to follow in her footsteps. She knows that I want to write for the Prophet; she just can’t wrap her mind around the fact that it’s not what it used to be. Rita Skeeter got sacked ages ago and there are people like me who want to record real news and release it to an informed public!”

Her face had turned a red to rival her hair and she was breathing heavily. Tears were pouring messily down her cheeks and she wiped at them hastily.

“I can’t just _be_ her, Scorpius. I would rather hurtle myself off of the London Eye before I worked at some desk for the rest of my life.”

He didn’t quite know what to say and so he squeezed her hand reassuringly. She leaned her head against his shoulder and they stayed like that until she finally spoke hoarsely.

“It’s just not fair having such pressure. I haven’t even finished Hogwarts and she wants my resume stacked higher than hers.”

This caused Scorpius to snort, recalling a similar exchange he’d had with his father over Christmas. “I completely understand.”

“But you _don’t_ understand, Scorpius!” She cried, turning quickly to look at him with wide eyes. “I’m under pressure to follow the largest legacy in the wizarding world! I have to fight tooth and nail to be seen as anything other than a poor man’s Hermione Granger. You don’t have that kind expectation to live up to, quite the opposite actually.”

His expression became cold quite suddenly and the sweltering heat they were covered in vanished instantaneously. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

Her eyes widened in surprise and she shrugged. “You know.”

“No,” he said slowly, “I’m afraid I don’t.”

She huffed impatiently. “I just meant that it’s different from your dad. Anything you do now will trump what he did as a child because you aren’t trying to get anyone killed. Meanwhile, my parents saved the whole fucking world at 18. I don’t have room for error, Scorpius, I have an act to follow.”

“And I don’t?” He cried. “If I’m not the absolute best in all I do then it’s just confirmation to the entire wizarding world that the Malfoys are a steaming heap of rubbish.”

“That’s not true,” she said defiantly. “Your existence alone says quite otherwise.”

“Oh, so I don’t amount to anything on my own merit, just my existences’?” He snapped.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean, Rose?” He hated arguing with her but he was his father’s son; he wasn’t one to back down when provoked and Rose knew that.

“You know that things are different for me,” she answered stiffly.

“Things couldn’t be more different between us, Rose. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”

“And what is _that_ supposed to mean?” She scoffed.

“You’ve grown up with the world on your side, Rose. You’ve never needed to fight for anyone’s affection or prove your worth when you walk in a room. I never thought you could be so blind to your own privilege, but I guess I’m sorely mistaken.”

She lurched backward as if she’d been slapped and for a moment she almost looked ashamed. “Do you even hear what you’re saying?”

He sighed. “What I’m hearing, Rose is that any accomplishment I make will pale in comparison to yours simply because my mummy doesn’t have her face on a chocolate frog.”

Her eyes flashed dangerously and the set of her jaw alone would be enough to scare most anyone away. Not him though. When she spoke, it was with a tone far colder than anything she’d ever used with him before. “I didn’t realize we were playing the pity card.”

This caused him to have a sharp, bitter laugh that he himself didn’t recognize. “That wasn’t pity, Rose. Pity is getting food thrown at you for simply showing up to class. It’s me who’s been tripped, stuffed in broom cupboards, and called a Death Eater. I don’t recall someone in your dorm trying to carve the dark mark into your arm while you slept, but you can certainly correct me if I’m wrong.”

She opened her mouth to speak but shut it almost immediately, an expression of shame crossing her features. They were both quiet for several long moments while Rose closed her eyes tightly, no doubt remembering that horrible night in third year where the entirety of Gryffindor had awoken to his screams of terror, and her bottom lip began to tremble. They'd never discussed that night since it had happened. It was sort of an unspoken rule between them. He'd rather forget the scar on his left arm and she rather hoped to never see him cry like that again. Knowing what was going through her mind, watching the tears escape her brilliant blue eyes, Scorpius softened immediately, his seemingly blinding anger forgotten in a single moment.

This is where Scorpius differed from his father. Like Draco, he could quickly extract a cool and hard exterior in hopes of protecting himself. Yet, unlike his father, Scorpius couldn’t keep up such a pretense for long. It wasn’t in his nature to be cruel and unforgiving. He had a deep empathy for others that came straight from his mum and was much too cheerful to spend too much time dwelling on other people’s missteps.

And this is where Rose differed from her parents. Like her mother, she was relentlessly stubborn, and like her father, she was susceptible to jealousy and had a temper fierier than her hair. But unlike either of them, she was rather quick to realize when she’d been wrong and could admit it with ease.

“I love you, Rose-”

“I’m so sorry-”

They looked at each other and began to laugh until when quite suddenly, Rose burst into tears, hurtling herself forward to throw her arms around his neck. She’d always been emotional like that, even if she didn’t like to show it.

“It’s alright,” he said softly, stroking her hair as she continued to cry against his shoulder.

“It’s not though,” she said desperately, still hiccuping as she pulled away from him. “I shouldn’t have said any of that. It was uncalled for and insensitive and I’m sorry.”

He intertwined their fingers and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I forgive you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t. You deserve someone better than me,” she said quietly, tears still streaming down her freckled face.

“Rose,” he said seriously, “I don’t want anyone other than you, and I promise that there isn’t anyone better. ”

“How can you seriously forgive me after I acted that way?”

He shrugged easily. “I dunno, that’s just what happens when you love someone. Wouldn’t you forgive me if I had said something horrible to you in a moment of anger?”

She nodded fervently. “Of course I would.”

“Alright, then. I don’t know what else there is to discuss.”

She moved closer to him right as he opened his arms. “I _am_ sorry,” she mumbled against his chest after a few moments. He pressed a kiss into her hair and she pulled away slightly to get a better look at him. “And of course I know how difficult things are for you. I just get caught up in myself sometimes.”

“It’s not a competition, you know,” he offered while stroking his thumb across her knuckles. “We both deal with pressure. Maybe instead of fighting about it we can try to help each other?”

Tears clouded her vision as she nodded. She would never understand how he was always so wise. She felt so much like a child yet here was Scorpius knowing the exact thing to say and when to say it. How she wished to go back to thirty minutes ago when undoing his belt buckle was the biggest of her worries.

“I’d really like that,” she finally answered.

This caused them to lapse into silence once again. Shouts and laughter could be heard from outside through the cracked window. Scorpius squinted as a fleck of gold whizzed past the glass and he had no doubt that a game of quidditch had just begun.

“We should probably go down there before they notice that we’re gone,” Rose suggested with a sniffle.

“Oh they’ve noticed,” Scorpius chuckled as Hugo and Louis flew past the window making kissy faces.

Rose stood and yanked the curtains shut, but not before sticking her hand out the window to flash her brother a gesture that would make her Nana cringe.

“I know that my mum means well,” Rose started as she sat back now next to him. “But I just wish she’d really listen to me. She can just be so stubborn sometimes!”

“Frustrating, isn’t it?” Scorpius smirked, cringing as she swatted his arm rather roughly.

“That’s beside the point,” she said while biting back a grin.

“Alright, and the point is?”

“I want my mum to realize that I will never work for the Ministry because I’d be colossally unhappy there and then tell whoever it is that I’m supposed to be shadowing that I won’t be.”

“And have you ever tried talking to her about any of this before?”

“Well, no,” Rose began.

“Ah-ha!”

“But that’s only because I already know what she would say!” She amended quickly. “She’d tell me that I should consider all of my options after I’ve had experience with each, but I don’t need to do that because I already know what I want!”

Scorpius seemed to consider this for a moment before he stood abruptly and began to fix the buttons at his collar.

Rose jumped at the suddenness of his movements. “What are you doing?”

“I’m fixing my shirt.”

“Clearly,” she said, pulling a face that caused her to look startlingly like her mother. “And why does that have to be done now?”

He looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I can’t have your mum know we’ve been snogging, can I?”

“You aren’t going to see her until later night though,” Rose hesitated, an impending sense of doom settling over her.

“No, I’ll be seeing her in ten minutes if you’d get up already.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “ _Right now?_ ”

He nodded as he pulled her to her feet, laughing as she gaped at him.

“And why the bloody hell would we do that?”

“Because you need to talk to her!” Scorpius declared. “She’s never going to know that she’s upset you unless you tell her.”

“But why do we need to go now? I haven’t even prepared what I’m to say!” She cried.

“You know what they say. There’s no time like the present!”

“That’s just a cliche! The perfect time is after you’ve thoroughly prepared for every possible outcome and I haven't even had time to think through one!”

“Cliches are cliche for a reason, Rosie,” he teased.

She groaned. “Can you stop being a cheeky shit for one second?”

“Nah,” he grinned. “Not if it makes you start moving.”

“Fine,” she said, beginning to pace back and forth across the tiny room. “Say we do go right now. Am I supposed to march right into her office and demand that we speak? You know my mum, she’s probably buried up to her ears in some case. I can’t interrupt that!”

“Firstly, it’s Sunday and so I’m sure she’s at home with your dad. Secondly, she’s obviously not too busy if she had the time to schedule you for an internship,” he pointed out smugly.

Rose opened her mouth and closed it, looking like a fish out of water. He was right, of course. What she really needed was to just talk to her mum.

And that’s how minutes later they found themselves stumbling out of emerald flames and into the living room of the Granger-Weasley household. As always, Scorpius was hit with a feeling of warmth as he took in the house. There were books lining walls, stacked on coffee tables, and sitting on the floor. Dozens of moving pictures decorated every inch of wall space: one of Rose’s parents kissing on their wedding day, one of Rose laughing as a baby, and another of Hugo zooming around on a child’s broom. Rose’s father could be heard humming in the kitchen, pots and pans clanging about, the scent of something garlic flooding the entire downstairs.

“Dad, I’m home,” Rose called, toeing off her trainers. She shot Scorpius an anxious glance and he squeezed her hand in reassurance.

The clanging stopped abruptly and in a flash, Ron Weasley was around the corner; long legs freckled skin, and the signature Weasley hair bursting into the room like a flash.

“Rosie!” He cried. He laid eyes on Scorpius and nodded jerkily then turned back to Rose smiling widely. “We didn’t think you’d be back for hours.”

“We thought we’d pop around a bit early,” Rose shrugged. If her dad sensed her nervousness he didn’t let on, just pulled her into a bone-crushing hug causing her to laugh loudly.

“Oi, Hermione,” Ron called up the stairs as he let go of her. “Rosie’s home early!”

A few moments later footsteps could be heard descending down the stairs and soon Rose’s mother was standing in front of the lot of them, her wild, slightly greying hair pulled into a messy plait.

“There’s really no reason to yell, Ron,” she said in exasperation. Rose’s father only rolled his eyes affectionately. Turning to where Rose and Scorpius stood, her features brightened.

“Well, this is a nice surprise! Scorpius, how are you darling?”

“I’m alright. It’s lovely to see you, Mrs. Granger.”

Hermione’s cheeks tinged pink and Ron grunted in annoyance causing Rose to roll her eyes at her father. According to her Auntie Ginny, some things would never change.

“I’m assuming you got my owl, Rose,” Hermione prompted.

“Yeah, that’s actually why I’m here. Do you think we could talk for a moment?” The unease was evident in her voice causing her mother to frown.

“Of course, dear,” Hermione said, shooting a confused glance at her husband. “Why don’t we go up to my office? Ron, get Scorpius a drink, will you?”

Ron grunted and trudged back to the kitchen as the two women climbed the stairs. Rose looked over her shoulder and grimaced but Scorpius gave her an encouraging nod.

Moments later Ron walked back in the room holding a glass of firewhiskey and a bottle of butterbeer. He wordlessly passed the bottle to a nervous-looking Scorpius and proceeded to sit in the room’s squashiest armchair. Scorpius took the seat across from him and stared at his shoes. He’d never been alone with Rose’s dad before; her mum was usually there to mediate any tension. After several seconds of awkward silence, Scorpius cleared his throat and began to speak. Unfortunately, Ron did the same.

“How’s business, Mr. Weas-”

“Is Rosie alright?”

“Yes,” Scorpius answered, eyes wide at being addressed so directly. That almost never happened when it came to Rose’s dad. He didn’t exactly love Scorpius, but that was to be expected. “She just wished to speak to her mother.”

“You don’t have to talk like that, you know,” Ron commented dryly. “All proper and shit. It’s bloody nonsense if you ask me. Tell me your father didn’t put you in bloody grammar lessons as a kid.”

Scorpius bit back a grin at how much his words sounded like something Rose might say. “No, he didn’t. That would just be ridiculous”

Ron’s shoulders sagged in mock relief.

“My grandmother did.”

Ron’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re a snarky little shit sometimes, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” Scorpius said, smiling despite himself.

“Reminds me rather of Harry,” Ron said with a wry smile. “Don’t take that as a compliment though,” he amended quickly. “He can be annoying as fuck.”

“That’s alright,” Scorpius said with a shrug. “Harry Potter is about the best thing I’ve been compared to, even if it wasn’t meant to be complimentary.”

Ron looked a bit taken aback by this, his face flooding with color. “Listen, mate, I didn’t mean anything by that-”

“It’s alright, Mr. Weasley. I’m just being a snarky little shit, remember?”

Ron chuckled but stopped abruptly as if taken by surprise by his own laughter. He shook his head jerkily as if to steady himself. “Back to why my daughter looked an anxious wreck when she got here. Is there something I need to know?”

“She’s fine,” Scorpius said quickly. “As I said, she just wanted to talk to her mum.”

“Yeah, I gathered that much,” he deadpanned. “Care to tell me why?”

It was at times like these that Scorpius could see the former auror in Rose’s father. Unlike the boisterous, smiling man Scorpius saw around Rose’s family, he now looked frighteningly intimidating; jaw set, his blues eyes slightly squinted. It would be easiest to just tell him, but if his own father had taught him anything, it was to respect others wishes; if Rose had wished to tell her father what was going on, she would have done so already.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Weasley, but that’s Rose’s business. I’m sure she’ll talk to you when she wants to.”

Ron looked completely taken aback by Scorpius’s boldness. “Don’t be ridiculous, Malfoy, just tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m afraid I can’t, Mr. Weasley,” Scorpius said as he sat a little straighter. His heart was racing in his chest and he was sure Ron could hear it.

“This is my daughter we’re talking about,” Ron interjected angrily.

“Exactly, your daughter whose feelings I respect. I love Rose enough not to betray her trust, even if you are her father. I’m sure she’ll talk to you when she wishes.”

Ron’s face was splotchy and red, his knuckles white as he gripped the side of the armchair. Scorpius wondered if he should leave before the yelling started. Right as he was about to excuse himself, it was as if a switch had been flipped. Rose’s father let out a deep breath, relaxed in his chair, and took a swig from his glass.

“You know, maybe you aren’t too bad, Malfoy,” he said after several moments of silence seemingly as shocked by his revelation as Scorpius was. Before he could find the words to respond to such a strange assertion, the sound of a chair moving against the floor could be heard from overhead, soon followed by two sets of footsteps walking down the stairs.

Rose’s laugh echoed throughout the living room as she rounded the corner to see the two men gazing at each other wearily. Her sparkling blue eyes were rimmed in red but she smiled nonetheless.

“Everything alright in here?” She asked hesitantly.

“ ‘Course it is,” Ron said quickly, rising to his feet to cross the room. “And are you alright? Where’s your mum?”

“I’m right here,” said Hermione as she entered the room, her eyes also red but a smile covering her face.

“We were just talking about school,” Rose said quickly, sensing that her father was about to badger her with questions. After receiving a well-meaning look from his wife, Ron decided to drop the subject and strode back into the kitchen to continue working on dinner. 

Rose’s mum retreated back to her office to continue working and right as Rose began to explain their conversation to Scorpius, Hugo burst from the fireplace complaining that he was absolutely famished and needed to eat immediately. The rest of the night offered little time to talk, as right after dinner they were coaxed into chess with Hugo and Ron. It was nearly midnight when Scorpius used the floo to return to his own home and Rose bid her parents goodnight. 

Exactly one hour later, Rose opened her window and ducked out of it, wincing as it slammed shut slightly louder than normal. She lowered herself down lightly and nearly slipped at the sound of muffled laughter. It was just Scorpius, of course, who had beaten her outside per usual; long legs hanging off the edge of the slanted bit of her roof just beneath her window. Beneath him were several blankets spread out in a space just large enough to fit the both of them. 

“I still think it’s stupid that we do this,” she grumbled as she settled next to him. 

“Nah, it’s quite romantic actually. At least that’s what my mum would say,” he grinned, wrapping an arm around her.

Leaning into his shoulder, she sighed wistfully. “Just think, a year from now we’ll have a flat of our own and we won’t need to sneak around like this just to spend a night together.”

“It’s not sneaking around if both of our parents are aware of it,” he chuckled. 

“We don’t know that!” Rose cried, cringing as Scorpius looked at her pointedly. She _was_ rather loud and her mum always smirked at her on the mornings she came downstairs smelling like outside. 

“How about you tell me what your mum said so we can go to sleep,” Scorpius suggested as he bit back a yawn. 

Rose nodded and explained how things with her mother had gone surprisingly well. She admitted that she’d gotten rather passionate as she defended herself, not that much defense was even necessary. Her mother had listened avidly and cried a bit when she admitted that all she wanted was for Rose to have the smooth adjustment to adulthood that she never did. 

“See,” Scorpius said softly. “I told you she’d understand.”

At some point they'd taken to laying down, their legs intertwined, noses practically touching. In lieu of responding, Rose moved forward and kissed him soundly. The continued on that way, mouths moving languidly, hands caressing softly until Scorpius quite literally yawned in her mouth causing them to break apart in a fit of giggles. 

Resting her head upon her chest, she laced their fingers together. 

“Is it ridiculously of me to say how in love with you I am,” Scorpius mumbled, the stars yearning him to succumb to sleep. 

“No,” Rose whispered, the familiar something in her chest blooming impossibly. Her final thought before she drifted off was that it was quite lovely, the life she was living. 

In several hours the sun would rise, the pink sky jolting the pair awake. Scorpius would hurry down the side of the house and sprint to the apparition point, smiling broadly as his girlfriend waved back at him from her spot on the roof.

Ron Weasley clutched his fork a bit tighter as he watched the blond run across the field behind his house. His instinct was to grumble to his Hermione about the pair of them as he did every other time this happened, but he placated himself as he remembered last night’s conclusion that maybe the boy wasn’t so bad after all. He’d always known really but wasn’t much in the habit of admitting when he was wrong. Call it Weasley stubbornness, but he knew, even if he couldn’t verbalize it, that Malfoy was an alright bloke. Probably the best he could ask for his Rose.

As the redhead in question came down for breakfast several minutes later, hair frizzy from a full night's worth of July heat, she paled as her father asked if she'd slept alright. 

“Of course,” she answered quickly. “Why wouldn’t I have?”

She continued to eat her cereal at top speed as her parents exchanged a knowing look, both happy that their daughter had someone worth breaking the rules for.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this little piece! It's definitely out of the norm for me as I rarely touch on big characters like Hermione and Ron but I wanted to show a bit of them as parents:) I'd love to hear your feedback so leave a review and we can chat! hope you're well and stay safe XOXO


End file.
